Charis

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
43rd Sparkassen Chess Meeting; Dortmund, June 30, 2015
Queen’s Indian Defence E16

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 a5 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. 0-0 0-0 8. Bf4 Be7 9. Nc3 Na6 10. d5 Bb4 11. Nb5!? Quite an interesting Pawn sacrifice.
11. ... exd5 12. Nh4 c6 13. Nd6 Bxd6 14. Bxd6 Re8 15. cxd5 Ne4! Black returns the Pawn, in fact obtaining a comfortable equality.
16. dxc6 (17. Bxe4 Rxe4 18. f3 Re8=)
16. ... dxc6 17. Bf4 Qf6 18. Be3 c5 19. Qd7. Nisipeanu pushes a bit too hard, offering another Pawn, but under much more controversial circumstances than before.
19. ... Bc6 20. Qg4 Nb4 21. Rad1

21. ... Qe6. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) is not confident enough to dare to cash in the Pawn by 21. ... Qxb2! 22. Nf5 Qf6 — at first glance White has no compensation at all.
22. Nf5 g6 23. Nh6+ Kg7 24. Qh4 Nc2 25. Ng4 Nxe3 26. fxe3 h5 27. Bxe4 Qxe4 28. Qf6+ Kg8 29. Qxf7+ Kh8 30. Qf6+ Kg8 31. Qf7+ Kh8 32. Qf6+ Kg8 33. Qf7+ ½–½.

“It was an interesting game, in which I always played under the pressure of the clock. I was trying to keep my King safe”, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) finally said. Photo: Dagobert Kohlmeyer.